


Like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, or Aphrodite

by eternal_song



Series: You're My Brother Half [3]
Category: Dororo (Anime 2019), Dororo (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, F/M, Idiots in Love, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-02-27 15:57:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18742282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternal_song/pseuds/eternal_song
Summary: Hyakkimaru really, really likes Mio. He thinks she might even like him back. Now, if only he could work up the nerve to tell her.





	1. September

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fetuscakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fetuscakes/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from ["She's So High"](https://youtu.be/_ElORM9O-0U) by Tal Bachman
> 
> Part of a fic exchange with my wonderful, _incredible, **talented**_ beta reader Fetuscakes. I was planning on waiting to publish this until I finished the direct sequel to "The Water's Sweet" but that fic is giving me trouble so here, have some HyakkiMio fluff. The fic they wrote for me, chapter 2 of San'nin, is [over here!](https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/44529073?show_comments=true&view_full_work=false#comment_225625372)

“Hey, Mio?”

Mio looked up from her book, gracing Hyakkimaru with a small smile. She slipped the tab of the dust jacket between the pages and closed it to give him her full attention. She looked content and lovely under the midday sun, the tree leaves above casting dappled shadows over her as they enjoyed their lunch hour.

“This Saturday, Dad and Dororo and I are having dinner out to celebrate my birthday and I… wondered if you wanted to come.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re… pretty important to me… so…”

Mio’s eyebrows went up, a slight look of surprise on her face before a bright smile took over.

“I’d love to! I’m so glad you asked.” She tapped her chin and tilted her head thoughtfully at him. “I wonder what I should get you?”

Hyakkimaru couldn’t help but answer that smile with his own.

“Nothing fancy, please. I’m sure whatever it is, I’ll like it.”

The dinner itself was cozy, at a table near the back of a nice— but not too upscale— Western-style restaurant. It would have been peaceful, too, except that Dororo stood on his chair and loudly proposed a toast with his apple juice to “Aniki making another successful trip around the sun and continuing his slow yet inevitable march towards death.” Jukai had to bodily pick him up and force him back into his chair, but they were both laughing about it. Hyakkimaru buried his face in his hands and wished that his march towards death would hurry up a little. Mio leaned over in her seat next to him, giggling in his ear, and patted his back soothingly.

“Dororo really loves you, doesn’t he?”

Hyakkimaru raised his face to give her a rueful smile. He watched his dad and Dororo argue about which appetizers to get, and the smile turned more genuine.

“Yeah, I guess he does.”

“We all do.” She rested her head on his shoulder, and he blinked down at her. She wasn’t normally this physically affectionate with anyone. “Hard not to, when you’re the perfect combination of badass and awkward.”

He wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not, but he chose to take it as one. She trusted him enough to tease and be close to him, so he couldn’t really complain. He put his arm behind her back and rested his cheek on the top of her head. Dororo gagged.

“Do you two  _ mind? _ ” He made a disgusted face. “People are trying to eat here.”

“We haven’t even ordered yet.” Hyakkimaru glared at him.

“Well, I’m trying to keep my appetite.”

Hyakkimaru closed his eyes and tuned the brat out.

After the meal they made Hyakkimaru open his gifts right there at the table. His dad gave him the first volume of some new swordsman manga he had heard of in passing. Dororo's gift was a drawing he'd done of Hyakkimaru in ragged Sengoku-era clothing, swords out and fighting a giant moth. It was childish and done by unskilled hands, but it was possibly one of the best gifts he had ever received. Dororo blushed and postured a little when Hyakkimaru told him so, but he had a pleased smile on his face.

Of course, Mio's gift challenged that best gift status. She had made him an omamori. The thin wood core was covered in a scrap of fabric that he recognized from an old yukata she'd worn when they were younger, pale blue in color and patterned with little orange koi. The tassel had a tiny Maneki Neko charm on the end, clearly handmade as well. He grinned and held it up.

“I wrote a prayer on the wood, but don't peek.” Mio leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. “Happy birthday.”

Hyakkimaru knew from the heat on his cheeks and Dororo's shit-eating grin that his face was bright red, but surely this was worth a little embarrassment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not to be Lesbian on Main here, but Hyakkimaru's reactions to Mio in this fic are basically me when I interact with a pretty girl. Write what you know, kids ;)
> 
> This fic is completely written and will update once a day for a week. This won't affect this Friday's update of TDMMaBH.
> 
> Also, a shout-out to "Tiffany Chan" who commented on "5 Photos" way back at the end of February asking for a HyakkiMio date fic in this universe. Hope you enjoy.


	2. October

The leaves crunched satisfyingly under his boots as they walked through the park, hot drinks in hand. Mio had her free hand looped through his elbow. Around them, their siblings shrieked and rampaged through the fallen leaves, with Dororo and Takebo quickly taking on joint leadership roles in the whole venture. The children gathered large armfuls of leaves, creating a massive pile in the center of the lawn.

“What do you suppose they’re planning?” Hyakkimaru watched as Dororo and Takebo shoved at the leaves to make the pile taller. They mostly only succeeded in getting leaves in their hair. Mio hummed in thought, huddling closer to him when a gust of wind blew past.

“Do you mean with the leaves, or in general?”

“Either. I don’t trust Dororo to have anything simple in mind.”

As they watched, Dororo gave some sort of signal that made the other kids cheer. All five of Mio’s foster siblings lined up in front of the pile with Dororo behind them, and they took turns flinging themselves bodily into the leaves. Dororo even took the initiative to point Aya, who was blind, in the right direction and tell her when to jump. Once Dororo had taken his own tumble, they all pushed the scattered leaves back into the pile and went for another round.

“He’s a natural leader,” Mio noted. Her head was on Hyakkimaru’s shoulder once again. He’d noticed that ever since his birthday dinner, she had been more physically affectionate with him. It made his heart jump in his chest that she trusted him so much, but it also had the unfortunate effect of letting him get his hopes up. If she was so comfortable around him, perhaps she would be willing to go on a date?

“I fear for the future if he ever gets it into his head to go into politics,” Hyakkimaru said instead of letting himself dwell too long on those thoughts. “He could probably start a revolution.”

“I’d join. I’ve always liked hopeless causes.”

“Well, no wonder you keep me around.”

They met each other’s eyes and for a moment, Hyakkimaru thought they might both be leaning in. He ruined it when he saw the teasing smile on her lips. A snort of laughter escaped him, and she echoed it. He put his forehead against hers as they laughed.

“Hey, if you losers are done being sappy, we have a job for you.” Dororo’s voice cut through, and they pulled their heads apart to look down at where he stood in front of them, hands on his hips.

“Who are you calling a loser?” Hyakkimaru glared at him. Dororo smirked and tossed his hand back dismissively.

“You, Aniki. Now, come on, make yourself useful.” He made a ‘chop, chop’ motion with his hands.

“Can’t you ask nicely?” Hyakkimaru growled at the same time Mio asked, “What do you need?”

Dororo took the drinks from their hands and ran back towards the leaf pile, forcing them to follow.

That was how Hyakkimaru got roped into picking up children and tossing them bodily into the pile of leaves, while Mio helped them out and straightened the pile between kids. A few of the other children at the park wandered over to join the fun. Soon Hyakkimaru had a line of about a dozen children all raising their arms to be picked up and launched into the leaves, shrieking in joy the whole time. Mio’s laughter rang out above the din, and the privilege of hearing it kept him from complaining about being a glorified slingshot.

The parents of the other children eventually came by as they each noticed what was happening. Some apologized for the trouble, which he and the others were quick to assure them wasn’t the case. Others… weren’t so polite. After the third parent scolded him for endangering their child, Mio stood up and got between them.

“If I thought for a second that Hyakkimaru would hurt any of my siblings, I wouldn’t have invited him and his brother to join us today.” Her smile was pleasant and full of ice. “Perhaps you should keep a closer eye on your child if you’re so worried about their safety.”

The mother huffed and dragged her son away, though the little boy waved to them as he went. Hyakkimaru gaped at Mio, and Dororo cackled.

“That was awesome, Mio-nee!” He reached up and patted her on the back since he couldn’t reach her shoulder. Her smile lost its edge as she gave him a thumbs-up.

“Thanks,” Hyakkimaru murmured to her. She nodded.

“Hey, you two need to jump in too!” Takebo pointed between them. The other kids cheered in agreement. Dororo began to chant “Jump! Jump! Jump!” and Mio’s siblings picked it up. Hyakkimaru gave Mio a bemused smile and held out a hand. She rolled her eyes, took it, and they both cannonballed into the pile together. The leaves surrounded them and flew into the air with a loud crunching, crackling noise. When they popped their heads out, both were covered in broken bits of foliage. Hyakkimaru reached over and plucked one from Mio’s hair. She returned the favor.


	3. November

The last Saturday of November was cold and windy, making it perfect to curl up on the couch with a movie. They were actually on their third one— Dororo had the first pick, Hyakkimaru second, and Mio third. This was exactly what Hyakkimaru had needed. His emotions were still raw and overloaded from the entire debacle with the kitsune and finding out the identity of his birth family, and it was nice to have the chance to simply relax.

Mio sat curled up between the arm of the couch and his left side, tucked under his arm. Dororo laid halfway on Hyakkimaru’s lap and halfway on the cushion next to him, with Nota on his stomach. Tahōmaru had dragged Hyakkimaru’s desk chair out from his bedroom, positioned it next to the coffee table, and sat there for the entirety of the two previous movies. He looked uncomfortable, though he’d relaxed to the point where he no longer looked like he wished he’d stayed home.

“You know you can sit over here, right?” Hyakkimaru reached out his right hand and beckoned him. Tahōmaru simply stared at it as if he expected the sword to come out at any moment. Slowly, he stood and moved to sit on the remaining cushion against the far arm of the couch. He shuffled over until he was close enough for his older brother to pat him on the shoulder. Dororo shifted his legs so they draped across Tahōmaru’s lap, earning an offended noise. Nota walked across Dororo to sniff at Tahōmaru. The younger teen raised a hand to the dog and, when Nota butted his head against it, began stroking him. Hyakkimaru smiled. A quiet “aww” caught his attention, and he looked down to see Mio watching both dog and brother interact.

An explosion onscreen caught everyone’s attention. They had missed the first few minutes, but he’d seen this movie enough times that he didn’t mind, and no one else seemed to either. Among them, Dororo was the only one who hadn’t seen this or any of the other films they’d watched. Catching him up on his pop culture education was a nice respite from bullying him into learning his kanji.

Mio hummed along with the music whenever the main leitmotif played. Beside him, Tahōmaru relaxed, shifting Dororo’s legs to a more comfortable position. Hyakkimaru dropped his hand to pet Nota’s tail end, occasionally knocking into Tahōmaru’s fingers. It was still weird, knowing that Tahōmaru, the spoiled heir, was his brother. Their relationship was stiff at times, but they were both trying. Dororo alternated between being genuinely supportive and a little shit about it, often picking fights with Tahōmaru about who was the better brother.

At least Mio tried to get along with him. She’d been nothing but understanding and supportive, and even proud and prickly Tahōmaru couldn’t find fault in her.

The downside to that was that he and Dororo often ganged up on Hyakkimaru to tease him about his “girlfriend.” He was determined to ignore them.

Jukai wandered into the room as the movie was wrapping up. Hyakkimaru could see him holding his phone up. He knew what he was about to do, but none of the others had noticed his presence yet and, really, what harm could a photo do? The artificial shutter click of the phone’s camera alerted everyone. Tahōmaru stiffened, still unsure of his welcome. Meanwhile, Mio yawned and snuggled into Hyakkimaru’s chest.

“Hello, Doctor,” she said, raising one hand in a lazy wave. Jukai smiled brightly at them.

“Are you kids having a good evening?” He walked over and peeked at the TV screen, where the credits and ending theme played. “Oh, I like that movie.”

“It’s great. Tahōmaru, you pick next.” Dororo didn’t move from either brother’s lap despite this pronouncement. “And choose wisely, because I  _ will _ judge you.”

Tahōmaru scowled at the boy, but his shoulders lost their nervous tension as he leaned forward and snatched the remote from the coffee table.

Mio sang along to the ending theme, watching the credits scroll past the lavishly illustrated tree floating above the clouds.

“The earth is spinning, concealing you… your eyes are shining in the glittering light.” Her voice was soft, as usual, and she didn’t seem to notice everyone listening. “The earth is spinning, carrying you, carrying us who shall meet someday.”

Hyakkimaru squeezed her shoulder and smiled, glad she’d picked this film. He was glad that they’d all somehow met each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Mio is singing is ["Kimi wo Nosete"](https://youtu.be/gdpEnkcT7Io) ("Carrying You"), the main theme from _Castle in the Sky_. It's my favorite Miyazaki movie.
> 
> I love getting your feedback if you wanna leave it!


	4. December

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this AU, Hyakkimaru's birth mother is named Yuri, like she is in the 2007 film, because she was a much better character there than in any of her other incarnations.

Hyakkimaru shifted nervously from foot to foot as he waited outside the café. He and Mio had agreed to meet here for lunch to exchange belated Christmas gifts, as both had been busy with their families on the holiday. It was Mio’s favorite café, where they served cute themed pastries and drinks, and tea strong enough that even Hyakkimaru could taste it. He wondered if she would want to share a slice of Christmas cake. At his feet sat the large bag which contained her Christmas present. A spike of self-doubt nagged at him as he waited. What if it was too simple a gift? What if she wanted something else?

Mio saved him from his internal debate when she sidled up next to him.

“Good afternoon!” she smiled softly up at him. Her long black hair cascaded around her shoulders, and her bangs were clipped back with a handmade kanzashi pin. The red of the pin’s fabric tied in nicely with her red turtleneck sweater. He managed a smile back despite his thundering heart. “Let's go in and grab a table!”

She took his hand and led him towards a small table by the plate glass window, the afternoon sun casting the café’s name in shadow. Without releasing his hand, she sat across from him and set a small gift bag in the center.

“It's not much, but I hope you'll like it.”

They ended up sharing that slice of cake. Mio made such cute faces with each bite she took that Hyakkimaru found himself staring at her more than eating his own share until he scolded himself for being creepy and looked away. It felt so intimate, sharing food like this. True, they often picked off of each other’s lunch, but lately, they’d been doing it more. They’d bought crepes from a street vendor and shared bites of each other’s because Hyakkimaru loved the texture of banana chocolate as much as the strawberry filled ones, and Mio loved the taste of both. They had shared a box of candy at the movies a few weeks ago. He was glad that she was so comfortable with him. Maybe he had a chance if he could ever work up the nerve to ask her out.

Dororo had spent the entire morning teasing him about his “date” with Mio.

“It's totally a date, Aniki! You're the only one who won't admit it! Face it, _you're dating._ ”

Hyakkimaru had slapped him lightly upside the head.

“How can we be dating if neither of us asked the other out?” He asked, trying to grab the little menace and give him the noogie he deserved. Dororo just danced out of the way and gave him a significant look.

“I can't believe I'm related to such an idiot.”

Hyakkimaru hadn't bothered to point out that they did not, in fact, share any genetics. He knew what he meant, anyway.

“So how was your Christmas day?” He nudged the last bite of cake towards Mio. She took it after only a short hesitation.

“It was nice. I worked all night on Christmas Eve, so the kids let me sleep in until eight before they woke me up for presents. Mom and Dad went out for a date night and we all watched those weird American Christmas movies— you know, the stop motion ones?”

He nodded. The abominable snowman had terrified him when he was little.

“Mine was nice too. Dororo's pretty happy because he just had his birthday a week ago, so he got twice as many gifts. Tahōmaru stopped by in the afternoon.”

“What was that like?”

“Incredibly awkward.” Hyakkimaru laughed. “He still looks like he expects Dad to kick him out every time he comes over, even though that's obviously not going to happen. I actually think Dad's trying to bargain with Yuri for joint custody of him.”

He still couldn't call her “mother” or anything like that. He didn't know her well enough. Luckily Tahōmaru seemed to understand that and no longer got so defensive or territorial over his mother.

“How is she doing?”

Hyakkimaru put his chin in his hand and sighed, staring at the people walking by on the street outside.

“Tahōmaru said she's doing better. Happier. And she has an excellent divorce lawyer.”

Mio gave him a sad smile, likely understanding the guilt he wouldn't admit to out loud for having caused the divorce with his sudden reappearance in that family’s life. Wordlessly, she pushed the gift on the table towards him. He hesitated. Leaning down, he grabbed the bag near his feet and held it out. It was large and unwieldy, but not too heavy. She gave him a bemused smile and took it, gesturing for him to go first. He gently untied the ribbon and opened the box. Nestled inside amongst colorful tissue paper was a pale pink kanzashi peony with clay-and-wire stamens. He gently lifted it out and held it, being careful not to bend the dark green leaves. It had a brooch pin on the back.

“I know it might be a little feminine, and you don't have to wear it, but your dad said peonies are your favorite, so…” she clasped her hands together nervously. He shook his head so rapidly his ponytail slapped him in the face.

“No, I love it!” He pinned it to the front of his hoodie. “It's beautiful.”

She grinned and placed her gift in her lap. Making quick work of the tissue paper, she unearthed the gift from the bag and blinked at it, nonplussed. She gave Hyakkimaru a questioning look, and he felt a sudden and deep regret about buying her twenty-five liters of compressed dry peat moss and a few different packets of seeds as a gift.

“You… you were telling me about how you wanted to start a vegetable garden next spring, so I did some research.” He gestured helplessly. “It’s supposed to help with… uh… the acidity of the soil? And to keep it wet and aerated?”

She kept staring at him, eyes occasionally flicking down to the bag of moss. She bit her lip, and her shoulders began to shake, and Hyakkimaru panicked.

“You know what? I’m so sorry. I’ll get you a real gift, Mio, I promise—”

She threw her head back and a howl of laughter escaped her, attracting the attention of nearly every person in the café. Hyakkimaru closed his mouth and stared at her in worry. She slumped forward, head cradled in her folded arms, and laughed breathlessly into the tabletop. She didn't… _seem_ offended, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Should I… should I return it?” he asked. She raised her head and grinned at him, forcing her laughter to calm down.

“No!” Her giggles still forced their way through. “No, I love it. I just didn’t think you were listening very closely to me when I mentioned that!”

He frowned.

“I always listen to you.”

Her smile softened, and she reached across the table to take his hands in her own.

“I know you do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Japanese Christmas cake](https://www.japancentre.com/en/recipes/1125-japanese-christmas-cake), if you're curious. Now I'm hungry.


	5. January

“How did I get roped into this again?” Hyakkimaru groused as he packed yet another snowball for the growing pile. Mio took it and set it on the pyramid after it received a quality control thumbs-up from Dororo.

“Your hands don’t hurt when they get cold, Aniki. Obviously, I was going to take advantage of that.”

When Dororo was satisfied with the frankly obscene number of snowballs he’d forced his older brother to pack, he called all of Mio’s siblings and a reluctant Tahōmaru over to the middle of the park’s huge lawn.

“Ok, kids on one team, old folks on the other! To the death!” Dororo pumped his fist in the air like some sort of revolutionary.

“That’s not fair, there’s only three of us! And I’m not old!” Tahōmaru protested. He received a snowball in the middle of his face for his troubles, courtesy of Dororo. The teen growled and grabbed a snowball, throwing it and missing when Dororo dodged. The children cheered and grabbed their own, taking that as their cue to pelt the teenagers with all their might. Mio shrieked in delight and Hyakkimaru narrowly dodged one aimed for his gut. Grabbing a snowball from the scattered remains of the pile, he lobbed it into the back of Dororo’s head, catching him right on the ponytail. His youngest brother turned and shrieked.

“Top ten anime betrayals, Aniki!”

The situation quickly devolved. The snowball supply barely lasted two minutes, but the kids scooped up snow and packed their own with clumsy mittened and prosthetic hands. Tahōmaru, Mio, and Hyakkimaru’s strategy consisted of Hyakkimaru packing snowballs as fast as he could while the other two guarded him and threw the provided ammunition. He noticed that Tahōmaru and Dororo targeted each other most of all. Well, maybe they could work out some of their absurd rivalry.

Mio took a snowball in the chest and she yelped, falling backward and landing on her butt beside Hyakkimaru. Takebo cackled in triumph, arm still outstretched from the follow-through of the throw. Quickly packing another snowball, Hyakkimaru threw it at the boy and hit him on the shoulder, making him laugh and run for cover. Mio flopped backward into the snow. Her scarf and hair spilled over the white ground and she batted her eyelashes at Hyakkimaru.

“My hero!” she clasped her hand to her chest. “Avenging my demise by my brother's hand!”

He grinned down at her as he handed another snowball to Tahōmaru.

“Hey, a little help here?” the younger teen growled. “Time to save me from  _ your _ brother!”

“He’s your brother too, now.” Hyakkimaru threw a snowball over Mio’s head at one of the youngest, who was running forward to dump a handful of snow right on her sister’s face. It caught her hands and knocked the snow from them. She stared at her empty hands in shock before turning a fearsome pout onto him. Mio laughed and got up, racing forward to catch the girl and sweep her up into a spinning hug. Hyakkimaru stood and put his back to his brother, covering him.

“Looks like it’s just you and me again, otōto.” He grinned over his shoulder. “At least it’s not a pack of foxes this time.”

“I think this might be more terrifying,” Tahōmaru deadpanned. “It was an honor fighting with you, aniue.” 

Hyakkimaru eyed the circle of children closing in on them, all armed and led by Dororo, who fought dirty at the best of times. He was inclined to agree.

Half an hour later, they all tramped back to the Jukai household to shed their sodden winter gear and make hot cocoa. The children, still high on their victory, clustered around the television to watch some anime they were all obsessed with— even Dororo, who insisted the show was for little kids. Nota was in heaven, having so many small and sticky hands to lick and to pet him. He camped out right in the middle of their pile and refused to move. Meanwhile, the teenagers took their cocoa and went to sit in Hyakkimaru’s room. Mio stole one of his hoodies from his closet and sat next to him on the bed, while Tahōmaru sat at the desk chair. He gave them a look as Mio cuddled into Hyakkimaru’s side.

“You two don’t tone it down, do you?”

Hyakkimaru held out his other arm with a challenging eyebrow raised to match his brother’s.

“As I’ve said to Dororo: if you want a hug too, you can just ask.”

“I’m fine.” He sat back in the chair and sipped from his mug. “That was… more fun than I thought it’d be.”

“Have you ever had a snowball fight before?” Mio asked. Tahōmaru shrugged.

“Hyogo and Mutsu used to have them with me when we were a lot younger. We’d use the grounds around the house where my nanny could keep an eye on me. I’ve never been so… thoroughly outnumbered before.”

“It wasn’t as bad last year. Letting Dororo organize them has definitely made things more difficult for us.” Hyakkimaru chuckled and leaned back against the wall. “You two should go into politics together.”

“Why don’t you?” Tahōmaru cocked his head, studying his brother.

“Hyakkimaru has no poker face,” Mio said. “The closest he gets is his ‘murder face,’ and I don’t think people vote based on that.”

“Yeah, he’s not really suited to subterfuge, is he?” Tahōmaru gave him an appraising look. Hyakkimaru scowled back at him, and he laughed. “Yup, there’s the face!”

Hyakkimaru huffed and hid his face in his mug, grumbling.

“This time last year, I was an only child, and it was great. I didn’t have to put up with any of this.”

“Is that why you spent so much time at my house with me and my siblings, then?” Mio’s hand reaching up to pull out his hair tie and comb through the damp strands mitigated her teasing. Tahōmaru chuckled.

“Yeah, no, I don’t buy it. Dororo was telling me all about how you two adopted each other, so don’t try to bluff.”

“Are we calling Aniki out?” Dororo appeared in the doorway, hands tucked into the pockets of his sweatpants. “Because if we are, I’ve got lots of material to work with.”

He came up to Tahōmaru and leaned against the chair's armrest, making it swivel. The teen made an annoyed sound but didn’t push him away. He watched as Mio set her empty mug on the bedspread and began braiding Hyakkimaru’s long hair. A disgusted noise forced its way out of his throat.

“Aren’t they awful?” he stage-whispered to Tahōmaru, who nodded. “They do this all the time.”

“I’d better be the best man at the wedding,” Tahōmaru said. Dororo squawked, offended.

“No way, you joined the family last! I get to be best man! You can be the ring bearer!”

“I will end you, brat! Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’re a pipsqueak!” Tahōmaru made a grab for Dororo, but the boy was too fast for him. They ran out of the room, their laughter and shouts of rage echoing through the house. Hyakkimaru sighed and put his face in his hands.

“Just ignore them,” he groaned. “It’s the only way to stay sane.”

“I’m glad they’re getting along!” Mio chirped, patting him on the back. “They’d be great in-laws!”

“Oh, not you, too!” he lamented, even as his chest fluttered at the enthusiasm in her words.


	6. February

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Here's](https://blogs.transparent.com/japanese/types-of-chocolates-you-want-to-know-for-valentines-day-in-japan/) a guide to the different types of Valentine's chocolates in Japan, in case you're not familiar with the terms.

The kitchen had become a disaster zone. Chocolate molds littered every available surface not taken up by bowls, pots, and various decorating supplies. Jukai had taken one look at the boxful of supplies Mio had brought over, shook his head, and convinced Dororo to run errands with him with a request to please clean up when they were done. Both the countertops and the kitchen’s occupants had smears of chocolate on them. Several finished batches were cooling on the dining table, waiting for their turn in the fridge.

“Thank you so much for helping me with this,” Mio said as she stirred the bowl of dark chocolate chips over a pot of hot water. “Last year was a disaster, trying to keep the kids out of the kitchen for long enough to actually make them their chocolates. They kept trying to steal them before they’d cooled!”

Hyakkimaru topped off the last of the molds in the tray.

“Sure. I’m just glad you’re doing all the hard parts. Otherwise, I’d definitely burn or destroy these somehow.”

“I’d tell you to have a little more faith in yourself, but…”

They both remembered his last culinary attempt— those pancakes never stood a chance. Both teens paused their movements and shuddered.

Luckily, filling chocolate molds using a pastry bag was easy, as Mio handled the hard part of actually melting and filling the bags with the chocolate. She’d chosen to use both dark and milk chocolate, directing Hyakkimaru to make an identical amount of each type. Once they came out of the molds, they would decorate the candies with colored white chocolate and other decorations she’d brought. It was an involved process, but he was enjoying it so far.

“How many gifts are you making?” he surveyed the spread of what they’d finished so far and guessed that the answer was somewhere around “a lot of them.”

“Well, there’s giri-choco for my siblings, Mom and Dad, a few of my classmates…” Mio began ticking off all the people on her fingers. “I’ll probably give a tomo-choco to Oyone and a couple of other girls I know… I’ll have to give one to Dororo, too; he’ll get jealous if I don’t…”

She tapped her chin and gave him a sly smile.

“And one for you, of course!”

Hyakkimaru felt his face burning. He ducked his head and focused back in on filling the last molds in the tray. By the time all of the molds were filled, the first batch was ready to come out of the fridge. The chocolates popped out of the silicone easily, sitting on the table looking shiny and perfect. Decorating each was a simple matter of a swirl of colored white chocolate and a few sprinkles. Mio divided them up into small groups to be bagged once they were hardened.

The mold tray for the larger heart-shaped chocolates had four spaces in it, and they’d ended up with just enough milk chocolate to fill them all, though Mio only needed three.

“Do you want to decorate the extra?” She held it out to him, and he accepted it, though he didn’t know what he’d put on it yet.

Technically, he shouldn’t decorate it as a gift from him to Mio— he should wait for White Day if he wanted to do that, and he wasn’t sure he had the courage to do that anyway. But if he just decorated it with something they both liked…

He pulled up a photo on his phone, grabbed the bag of dark chocolate, and drew the outlines as carefully as he could.

While they worked, Mio happily hummed and occasionally mentioned something that she’d thought of which she thought Hyakkimaru should know.

“How many chocolates do you think you’ll get?” she asked him, and he paused to think about it. He didn’t usually receive very many, and they’d all been basic giri-choco in the past, though Mio’s were always a step above the rest.

“Hmm, maybe four or five?” He shrugged. “That’s about how many I got last year.”

“You know, I think Oyone may be planning on giving you a nice one.” She gave him a sidelong look he didn’t know how to interpret.

“Well, she’s a really great friend, but she shouldn’t feel obligated…” Hyakkimaru stopped talking when Mio laughed.

“Did you really not notice she had a crush on you for months?” She tilted her head and gave him a look he was tempted to describe as pitying. “She asked me if we were dating, and if you’d be interested in her asking you out.”

This was the first Hyakkimaru had heard of this, and he felt his face burn hotter than he’d thought possible.

“Wha— what did you tell her?”

“Well, the truth, of course.”

Hyakkimaru figured that “the truth” was something along the lines of “no, we’re not dating, because Hyakkimaru doesn’t have the guts to ask me out,” or “no, we’re not dating, but Hyakkimaru is too hung up on me to date anyone else,” or even “no, we’re not dating, but hopefully Hyakkimaru works up the nerve to ask me before we’re both old and gray.”

“Right.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and decided to stop pondering that before his mind went down a rabbit hole. Instead, he grabbed the bag of red-tinted chocolate, carefully filling in the outline he’d drawn. He repeated the process with the white, using the yellow to add in the details. Mio was already decorating the last of her large heart chocolates, but she’d gone with cute designs which were simpler to draw, and she had more practice at this than he did. Hyakkimaru watched her finish writing "mom" on the one in front of her. Going back to his, he tapped the screen of his phone and compared the photo to his chocolate drawing. It wasn’t perfect, or even very accurate, but it would do well enough. He set down the pastry bag with a noise of satisfaction.

Mio glanced over curiously. Leaning over, she took a better look at the design he’d drawn. It was a slightly wobbly depiction of two Tsubaki blossoms, one white and one red.

“How pretty,” she said, giving him a soft smile. “I guess all that art therapy your dad made you do when you were little paid off, huh?”

Hyakkimaru laughed, remembering the frustration of snapping yet another crayon in his clumsy grip all those years ago. He slid the chocolate towards her.

“You take it. You should have some of the fruits of our labor.”

She picked it up carefully, tilting it back and forth to take in the details.

“Are you sure you don’t want it?” she asked. “You worked hard to decorate it.”

Hyakkimaru tucked his hands into his hoodie pockets to indicate that he wouldn’t take the chocolate back.

“I decorated it for you. Besides, you did say I’d get one in a couple of days.”

Mio shrugged to concede the point and set the chocolate heart down carefully next to the others. To Hyakkimaru’s surprise, she reached out and pulled him into a hug. It took him a panicked moment to yank his hands from his pockets and return it. She rested her forehead on his shoulder and giggled.

“You know, if you give me something this nice now, I’ll expect something even better on White Day.”

“I think I can manage that.” He had an entire month to plan something. Maybe, if he could think of something really good, he could use it as an opportunity to finally ask her out. He was almost certain she’d say yes.

On Valentine's Day, she handed him a transparent pink cellophane bag with one of the large heart-shaped chocolates and a few of the little ones. The big one had his name written on it in her distinctively cute handwriting.


	7. March

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the final chapter and we've had six full months of pining from our boy! Let's see if Hyakkimaru finally manages to do something about this crush of his.
> 
> (please imagine Dororo in the background singing ["Kiss The Girl"](https://youtu.be/3BNpW7cxzrw))

He hadn’t planned this, but when he’d spotted the CD for sale on the library’s used book sale shelf, he’d impulsively bought it. Now he just had to figure out what to do with it.

Dororo groaned from his spot next to him on the couch and flopped over dramatically.

“You,” he said, pointing at the CD case in Hyakkimaru’s hand, “are overthinking this. Just put it in a bag, call her, and meet up to give her the thing. You gotta do it soon unless you’re waiting for White Day.”

Hyakkimaru raised an eyebrow at his brother.

“You already know what I’m giving her for White Day. You insisted on helping me pick it out.”

“Look, Aniki, I’ve known for thirty years—”

“You’re not thirty.”

“— For ten years that to win someone over, you gotta give them something they think they want before they’ll give you what you want.”

“You’re like a wellspring of awful advice.” Hyakkimaru set the CD on the table and fished his phone from his pocket, ignoring Dororo’s stupid cackling. “And I don’t think I like what you’re implying about my motivations.”

He tapped the call icon next to Mio’s contact info and waited for the call to connect. It only rang twice before Mio’s voice sounded through the tinny speaker.

“Hello!”

“Hey, Mio-nee!” Dororo shouted at the phone before Hyakkimaru could say anything. Hyakkimaru glared at him and moved the phone away from the little menace. She called out a hello to him.

“Hey, Mio. Uh… do you have anything planned for today?” Hyakkimaru bit his lip, grateful she couldn’t see it over the phone.

“No, I don’t think so. Why?”

“I… I found something I thought you’d like, and I wondered if you’d like to meet for lunch so I can give it to you.”

Mio was silent on the other end of the phone for a worryingly long time.

“Today’s only the second, right?” she asked. Hyakkimaru shot Dororo a questioning look, but his brother only shrugged with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Yeah…?” He wondered why she would need to know the date before it clicked. “Don’t worry, it’s not for White Day.”

“No, no, of course not.” She giggled, and it sounded a little off— almost nervous. “I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.”

They made plans to meet for lunch at a restaurant closer to downtown. It was a little nicer than where they usually went, but not much so that Hyakkimaru worried about his attire. Mio had mentioned a few weeks ago that she’d wanted to try it, and now seemed as good a time as any.

“Have fun on your date, Aniki.” Dororo waved Hyakkimaru goodbye as he pulled on his boots. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Hyakkimaru scowled at his teasing and flipped him the bird, receiving two in kind. Jukai, who sat next to Dororo, didn’t even look up from his book when he scolded them both for it. Hyakkimaru grabbed the CD, now nicely wrapped, and left before he got distracted trying to beat some respect into Dororo.

The walk to Mio’s house was brisk, with the early March weather still clinging stubbornly to the last hurrah of winter. He pulled his scarf tightly around his neck and ducked his head against the breeze. Mio was similarly bundled when she met him on the sidewalk, and they filled the walk to the bus stop with idle conversation. A gust of wind made Mio clutch her bag tightly to her side and huddle against Hyakkimaru. When it died down, she didn’t move away.

He managed to hold off shoving the CD into her hands until after they’d sat and ordered, but once the waiter walked away he pulled it from his inner coat pocket and held it out.

“I saw this, and I thought that you’d like it. It’s not much, but…”

She took the gift from him and grinned up at him.

“Thank you!” She said, not moving to open it. Instead, she set it on the table and pulled her bag into her lap. From it, she withdrew a flat, rectangular gift in bright paper and held it out to him. “I hope you like it!”

Hyakkimaru blinked at the gift. He looked up at her, and down at the gift again. He reached out to take the unexpected gift. Had she gotten him something in the half-hour between when they’d hung up their phone call and meeting in front of her house?

“Thank you.” He tried to keep the confusion out of his voice. Mio nodded.

“Of course! Happy anniversary!”

The world screeched to a halt. Hyakkimaru opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again.

“Happy… anniversary?” he managed to ask. She nodded again, smiling brightly. It was almost blinding.

“Well, not for another two days— that’s why I was confused, but I guess we hadn’t made any plans.” She giggled— a high, nervous sound. “I wasn’t sure what was appropriate for six months, so I got your dad to help me find something.”

Hyakkimaru had… _a lot_ of questions.

“Six months?”

Mio finally noticed his confusion and tilted her head, smile falling a little.

“Yeah, remember the dinner for your birthday? September fourth?” She shook her head. “Kind of a weird first date, with your dad and brother there too, but I enjoyed it a lot!”

Hyakkimaru felt his mouth flap open and closed like a fish.

“Oh my God.” He leaned his head back over the backrest of the chair and stared up at the ceiling, eyes wide in realization. “We’ve been dating for six months. Us. Six months. _Dating._ ”

“Yes…?” Mio sounded concerned now. “Is… something wrong?”

He shook his head slowly.

“No, I just— I didn’t know!”

Mio didn’t answer, and he lifted his head enough to look at her face. She looked stricken, and to his horror, a sort of miserable, resigned smile overtook her joyful one.

“Oh… I— I suppose I jumped to conclusions. I shouldn’t have assumed— did you not want to…?” Her shoulders hunched towards her ears.

“What? No!”

Hyakkimaru stared at her in horror. The outburst at least caught her attention, and she sat up straighter, eyes full of honest confusion. He groaned and leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table and cradled his face in his hands. His face and ears burned hot with mortification.

“I have been trying for _ages_ work up the nerve to ask you out. I wanted to get it right, to— to show you I meant it. And I somehow did it _on accident_.” He tugged on his hair. “How did I miss this?”

A small, choked, squeaking noise caught his attention. He slid his face up in his palms to peek at Mio. She had a knuckle bitten between her teeth and her face was rapidly turning red. A few more noises escaped before she lost control. Her hand fell from her mouth and, much like at Christmas, she threw her head back and howled out a peal of bright laughter. Hyakkimaru watched her, torn between wanting to die of mortification and enjoying seeing Mio so happy. He could see tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. They had attracted the attention of everyone in the vicinity— again, just like Christmas.

“This is better than the peat moss!” She managed to force the words out between gasping laughs. “I am going to give you shit for this for _years_!”

She managed to calm her breathing and looked at him fondly, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes. Hyakkimaru raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her, the lower half of his face still hidden in his hands. She snorted again but managed not to start a new round of laughter.

“So I take it… Dad knows, if he helped you with a gift.”

Mio nodded.

“And that means… Dororo knows too.”

She nodded again, biting her lip helplessly. He groaned.

“Am I the only one who didn’t know?” he asked, fearing he already knew the answer. She nodded a third time.

“In my defense, I was under the impression that you were aware of it. Why did you think your brothers kept teasing us about it?”

“Because they’re brothers?” Hyakkimaru held out his hands in a helpless gesture. Mio gave him a look full of a mixture of deep pity and strong affection. He supposed he could live with her giving him that look. Sitting up straight, he gestured for her to open her gift, sitting abandoned on the table. She picked it up and slid a finger under the wrapping paper, revealing the CD beneath. The teasing left her expression as honest gratitude took its place.

“You remembered!” She hugged the CD case to her chest before slipping it into the safety of her bag. “How did you find this? Not many people know this band.”

“I’ve been keeping an eye out, and I spotted it at a used book sale. It should still play fine, though.” He had tested it in his own CD player, just to make sure.

Mio reached out to push the other gift towards him but hesitated with her hand on it.

“I’m not sure if I want to give this to you yet,” she hedged, “or if I want to wait until next September when _you_ think it’s our six-month anniversary.”

She ended up letting him open it. Inside was a small picture frame with a photo inside. The photo showed the two of them, with a younger Mio leading a younger, red-faced Hyakkimaru by the hand as he gazed at her in wonder. The Hyakkimaru holding the picture frame sighed heavily.

“It’s from the day we met! Your dad said he’d been saving the photo to show at our wedding, but he let me have a print when I told him what I wanted to get you.” Mio smiled fondly at the photo.

A myriad of responses floated through Hyakkimaru’s brain, but the one that made it out of his mouth was, “God, my hair looks stupid. Why did Dad let me out of the house like that?”

Two hours later, they stood in front of Mio’s house again, a little awkward and not quite ready to part ways. Hyakkimaru shuffled his feet before finally reaching out and taking her hand in his.

“So… uh…” He cleared his throat. “Can I kiss you?”

Mio gripped his hand back and stepped closer.

“You know, I had been wondering why you were waiting so long for that. I thought you just needed time.” She laughed softly, and he felt the puff of air brush against his cheek. “But thank you for asking. Most boys would just swoop in and kiss me right away.”

Hyakkimaru wondered briefly how many times something like that had happened to her. They were both leaning in.

“Is that a yes?” he asked, just to make absolutely sure. Mio gave him one more tiny laugh and closed the distance. It was short, chaste, and a little dry. It made it sort of awkward that they were both grinning. He rested his forehead on hers, eyes closed, and kissed her again.

 

* * *

 

“So do you think he’s figured it out yet?” Dororo asked, tossing a piece of popcorn into his mouth. He and Jukai had decided that they may as well watch a movie while they waited for Hyakkimaru to return with the gossip they both wanted.

Okay, yeah, Jukai had phrased it more along the lines of “waiting to make sure that Hyakkimaru made it home safely,” but Dororo wasn’t stupid. He knew about his foster dad’s collection of cute and embarrassing photos of Hyakkimaru throughout the years. He also knew Jukai would be telling all of his coworkers this story, however it ended, come morning.

“If not, then I think it's time to tell him. The other shoe will have to drop eventually, and I’d rather he didn’t get hurt when it does.” Jukai took a handful of popcorn from the bowl between them, tossing a piece to where Nota sat on the floor, begging. Dororo made a disappointed noise, though he secretly agreed. It would be a shame for Hyakkimaru to screw up the best relationship he would ever have, just because he didn’t know about it.

The front door clicked open and Hyakkimaru entered, a dopey look plastered all over his face. Dororo gave Jukai a triumphant grin.

“Did you have a good time?” the doctor asked as Hyakkimaru pulled off his shoes.

“Yeah, it was great. Thanks for giving Mio that embarrassing photo, by the way. Just what I wanted.”

Jukai snorted a laugh. Hyakkimaru wandered over and stared at the screen for a few seconds before looking down at Dororo.

“So, Dororo.” his voice was carefully bland. Dororo gave him the best innocent smile he could, and Hyakkimaru tilted his head. “You knew.”

“Knew what?” Dororo decided that playing dumb would lead to the funniest results. Hyakkimaru's face twitched in irritation.

“You knew, and you didn’t think it was important to let me know _that I was dating her?_ For _six months?_ ”

Dororo let his grin turn teasing.

“C’mon, Aniki, where’s the fun in that? It was so much better watching you stumble your way through it.”

Hyakkimaru grabbed for Dororo, likely intending to tickle him half to death. Dororo chose the better half of valor and ran. Behind him, his brother screamed in irritation and chased after him.

Jukai eyed the two fondly and went back to his movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, show of hands, who guessed the "plot twist," and how soon? I don't think I was very subtle about it.


End file.
